Lens for Airshows

Granarystudio

Granarystudio

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Neil
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Currently have a Canon 7d, and a 70-200 f4. Went to Duxford yesterday, came back with a few good aerial shots but suffered from a lack of reach.
Saw a lot of big lenses yesterday mostly hand held.
So assuming you really do have to hand hold to capture the action, what are the best options going forward,
Canon 100-400?
Canon 400 prime?
Canon 300 prime + 1.4 tele convertor?
Sigma 150-500?

Budget wise , £1,250 so should cover most of the options above.
I guess a Canon 200-400 L with IS would be ideal!
I know the prime should be the sharpest with very quick autofocus, but no image stabilisation, so in reality does the 100-400 handheld give better results?
I did have a go with a sigma 150-500, and found you really need to zoom out a little to aquire the aircraft before zooming in. Reports of this lens being a little soft, but for a crop sensor will this be so muich of an issue?
The 300 +teleconvertor seems to be a bit of a fudge if starting fresh.
Appreciate any comments from those that have gone through the learning curve.
Regards Neil.
 
I see lots of canon shooters using the 100-400mm at Airshows and Airbases. They all seem to be pleased with them.


Kev.
 
I originally started shooting airshows with a 400 F5.6L, a nice lightweight & sharp lens - even wide open.
I've since traded up to a 300 F2.8L IS and generally use this with a 1.4xTC for doing airshows. I'm renting a 500F4L IS for the Oceana show in the US later in the year.

A few folks I know use the 100-400 for airshows and get good results from it.
 
The 400mm F5.6 Canon is one of the best for airshows very sharp lightning fast autofocus system (unlike the 100-400) which is pretty slow

another thing I like about the 400mm prime is that it is as light as a feather and can be hand held all day long at airshows

adding to the above I attend lots of airshows and have owned or used pretty much most of Canon's long Priime Lens line up 200mm F1.8 300mm F2.8IS 500mm F4 and for airshows I prefer the 400mm F5.6

the 100-400mm is a good lens and the zoom range is good but the prime is just a better lens IMHO
after owning one I would not buy another I just did not like the slow autofocus and the pump action zoom

my 2p
 
The fact that the subjects are most likely to be moving means that IS would be in mode 2 for panning.
If you wanted to capture propeller spin then your shutter speed would be relatively low and with a non-IS lens at 400mm there is the risk of shake.
You're correct that a prime lens such as the 400mm might give a sharper image but the 100-400 with IS will be more versatile and give you more keepers.
 
I use nikon and thought that if panning you turned VR (or IS) off??
 
Canon have different IS than Nikon, and some Nikon VR lenses can be used whilst panning too, such as the 70-200 VR.

I used a 300mm f/4 prime and a 1.4 TC yesterday at Yeovilton. Reach wise it was plenty long enough, just the lens is so slow to focus lets it down.

I saw folks there with 500mm primes and no other lens, how they got any shots is beyond me. The flightline was so close, often 300mm was too long.
 
I was in an exactly similar position, got good pictures with 70-200 f4 but was limited by reach. Bought a 100-400 and now get betters b photographs and get closer, you do have to watch speed of autofocus and make sure you have selected the correct IS setting or indeed none if you can manage pre focusing. It is a heavy lens but I love it and it works for me.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I saw folks there with 500mm primes and no other lens, how they got any shots is beyond me. The flightline was so close, often 300mm was too long.
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300mm might be too long at the closest pass but the togs shooting with the 500mm Lenses will be getting angles that 300mm wont get

its alright getting flat side on passes at the nearest point but 9 times out of 10 the best images from airshows are the one's with the best angles and lighting - and that means moving to where the angles are best and that is not sat at the nearest point of the aircraft passing

take a 300mm Lens to pretty much all seaside shows and I guarantee you will be wishing you hade a lot more than 300mm at your disposal

at the last windermere airshow I attended I was using a canon 500mm and the the smaller aircraft were like dots

so like I said before the 400mm is a great airshow lens - for some specifically looking for an airshow lens I would not be suggesting 300mm focal length, which would be OK for the odd once a year show but some one looking to be attending a fair few airshows wants 'reach' thats why the 400mm is such a great lens
 
Many thanks for the replies,

Looks like a choice between the Canon 100-400 or the prime,
Am leaning towards the prime. A s always it is a cmprimise.
I borrowed a Sigma 150-500, but I have to say the images looked very soft even when compared to a cropped image from my Canon 70-200 f4 L.
Regards Neil
 
i find a 70-200 zoom with a 1.7 or 1.4 tc best
have you seen how big a b52 is when it comes close you cant get the wings in...
 
straycat said:
i find a 70-200 zoom with a 1.7 or 1.4 tc best
have you seen how big a b52 is when it comes close you cant get the wings in...
Click to expand...
I agree.

I was at Duxford on Saturday. I found using my zoom (Sigma 50-500 OS) gave me a lot more opportunities to capture the displays in the air and quickly capture the other pilots taxiing back after their displays, no need to continually change lens.
 
Granarystudio said:
Many thanks for the replies,

Looks like a choice between the Canon 100-400 or the prime,
Am leaning towards the prime. A s always it is a cmprimise.
I borrowed a Sigma 150-500, but I have to say the images looked very soft even when compared to a cropped image from my Canon 70-200 f4 L.
Regards Neil
Click to expand...

The 100-400 will be better than the 150-500 for sharpness, but not massively if you stop the 150-500 down. Certainly still won't be as sharp as the 70-200 f/4L (which is one of the sharpest zooms in production, 4+x tele-zooms just can't be as sharp pretty much by definition).

The sharpest will be the 400 f/5.6L, if you can put your 70-200 on a second body I think this is your best option.
If you only use one body, the 100-400 gives you that whole range in one lens with very decent IQ (Mine is VERY good in the 100-300 range and doesn't drop off that much at 400mm).

My 100-400 focusses fast, the speed drops a little at 400mm in the close ranges, but with the 6.5m-inf. limit on it's almost instantaneous at any focal length.
It's not quite as fast as the prime, but I wouldn't call it slow by any means!
 
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I'd go with what everyone says about the 100-400 - it's a very flexible and capable lens for airshows - nice and sharp and the AF is quick too. I tried a variety of different 'long lenses' over the years - and this is the one that fits the bill and works best imho.

I know the primes are better in alot of ways and are sharper - but the set-up only tends to work well (imo) when you've more than one body :)

Cheers,

Matt
 
Sadlybrokeboy said:
I'd go with what everyone says about the 100-400 - it's a very flexible and capable lens for airshows - nice and sharp and the AF is quick too. I tried a variety of different 'long lenses' over the years - and this is the one that fits the bill and works best imho.

I know the primes are better in alot of ways and are sharper - but the set-up only tends to work well (imo) when you've more than one body :)

Cheers,

Matt
Click to expand...

+1!!!

I managed to buy a 100-400 from MPB for around £900, never found the AF slow when used with my 7D (although I haven't used a telephoto prime so can't compare) and have been really impressed with IQ shooting at rugby and cricket matches, as well as using it as a "walkabout" lens for test purposes.

From a personal perspective, a 400mm may give better IQ and fast AF response BUT unless you're going to be shooting airshows (or birds) all the time it's going to spend a lot of time in it's case ;)
 
Russ77 said:
+1!!!

I managed to buy a 100-400 from MPB for around £900, never found the AF slow when used with my 7D (although I haven't used a telephoto prime so can't compare) and have been really impressed with IQ shooting at rugby and cricket matches, as well as using it as a "walkabout" lens for test purposes.

From a personal perspective, a 400mm may give better IQ and fast AF response BUT unless you're going to be shooting airshows (or birds) all the time it's going to spend a lot of time in it's case ;)
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+2 for the 100-400, although I am also picking up a 400mm prime tomorrow as I do shoot a lot of aircraft and birds (and have two bodies)!!

There's a lot of talk about 'sharp' and 'soft' versions of the 100-400 - my experience is mine is 'soft' at f5.6 but transformed to 'pin sharp' at f8 so watch what you compare!

Andy
 
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